It Should Be Obvious
by blue-genjutsu
Summary: Naruto is captured by the Akatsuki and the only way to survive is to agree to merge with Kyuubi. Now Naruto has to deal with his new circumstances, as well as rescue his best friend. Can Naruto still achieve all his goals? SasuNaruSasu ShounenAi, Yaoi
1. Oh, Shit!

**Disclaimer**: I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any characters associated with the anime and manga. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All I do is play around with the characters for fun, not profit!

**It Should Be Obvious**

**Summary**: Naruto is captured by the Akatsuki and the only way to survive is to agree to merge with Kyuubi. Now Naruto has to deal with his new circumstances, as well as rescue his best friend. Can Naruto still achieve all his goals? SasuNaruSasu Shounen-Ai, Yaoi

There will be other implied pairings in this story, but they will not be focused on. Naruto is 15 and Sasuke is 16.

**Warnings**: You should have read up to chapter 309 of the manga to understand certain events that are mentioned in this story (or to know what is being talked about), especially events at the beginning of this story. If you haven't read up to that chapter, then be prepared for spoilers. This story starts not long after the events of chapter 309 and because of that, this story will veer off from the events that happened in the manga after that chapter. It is very possible that there will be a M-Preg in this story. If you hate M-Preg stories, then you have been warned before you start reading.

"talk" normal talk '

talk' thoughts of the character

**that man** Sasuke's way of referring to Itachi

**Chapter One: Oh, Shit!**

Naruto couldn't believe that he had found himself in such a horrifying predicament. There would be no one to save him, unlike what had happened with Gaara. No one would know that something had happened to him for at least a week. He was supposed to be on a mission to find Jiraiya and get him to return to Konoha in order to train him. Since Naruto knew all of the perverted hermit's favorite places to do research and he could use his frog summons to try and track down the other frog summoner, he had used that to persuade Tsunade into letting him go off alone for a week to find the perverted sannin. Actually, what he really did was encourage her to get drunk on sake first and then tricked her into letting him go on this mission, with the excuse that he needed the pervert to finish training him so he could become stronger.

Rumors had been floating around that the Akatsuki were very close to having captured all of the jinchuuriki and stolen their bijuu. It wouldn't be long before they came to the Leaf village to get Naruto. He knew that the elders didn't want him to leave the village. But Naruto had to save Sasuke no matter what. That is why he came up with the plan to trick the Hokage in order to be able to hunt for clues about the whereabouts of Orochimaru instead. He knew that Sasuke could give his body to the snake at any moment and Naruto just couldn't allow that to happen. He also knew that he would probably be in big trouble with Tsunade, and the elders, as soon as he got back.

But Naruto really didn't care about any of that, because for him, saving Sasuke was the most important thing. He would die to save his friend. But now here he was, captured by the Akatsuki after only having left Konoha the day before. The jutsu for extracting a bijuu from it's jinchuuriki had already been started, and Naruto, who was trapped inside himself with only Kyuubi for company, could do nothing to stop it. He had awakened to find himself outside the fox's cage. Kyuubi had told him what was happening in a very pissed off voice. Naruto was in severe pain and so was Kyuubi. Both felt as if they were being torn apart, which literally, they were.

"Damn it!! I can't believe how stupid I was!" Naruto was lying in front of the cage in a fetal position, trying to ease the pain he was in by holding tightly onto himself. It wasn't working too well.

The fox looked at his container and growled. "I really had hoped you were getting smarter, Brat. You should have learned long ago not to trust humans. Now we are both paying the price for your stupidity!" Kyuubi glared hatefully at the little human in front of him.

Naruto growled back but wouldn't look up at the fox because he was too afraid to move, believing that it would make the pain feel worse. "I'm not like you! I believe there are many good people in the world. I just got unlucky this time. How was I supposed to know that the Akatsuki had recruited a little girl as a member?" Naruto then grumbled under his breath. "She was so cute and innocent looking too, damn it."

"Innocent, my ass! Why did I have to be sealed up inside of an idiot? So, how are you going to get out of this one, Brat."

'Damn. That's a good question. There's no way I can let these assholes win.' Naruto forced himself to not think about the pain he was in, and instead he tried to think of a way to escape from the jutsu.

The fox looked at his host slyly and grinned. "I have an idea! You do know that we've been slowly merging ever since you first started using my power, right?"

Naruto forgot about his pain momentarily and jerked his head up to look at the demon. But then he regretted the action right after, as he hissed in pain. "What do you mean by merging?"

Kyuubi chuckled evilly and smirked. "Idiot. What do you think has been happening whenever you take on my form and grow tails?" Before Naruto could answer, the fox continued. "You and I have been becoming one. When you get the nine-tails, you will be completely demon. But now, we are going to have to speed up the process because we've run out of time."

Naruto became frightened at the thought of being merged with the fox. He didn't want to become a demon. He had been called a demon and even a monster by many of the villagers of Konoha for most of his life, and had worked so hard to become a good shinobi so that people would acknowledge him as that instead. Now Kyuubi was telling him that he had been slowly becoming a demon for the past several years. 'Why didn't I ever realize that this was happening to me? Have I been so blind? I've only been thinking about getting powerful enough to save Sasuke, but I've never thought about the consequences. I've become just like Sasuke.' Naruto bowed his head down to the top of his knees and shuddered. His mental pain was now overpowering the physical pain he had been feeling from the separation jutsu. He whispered, "Wouldn't it be better for me to just die? You won't die because they want to use your power. You'll survive this."

Concern briefly flickered in the fox's eyes but then was replaced with disgust. "What, are you giving up? After all the bragging you have done, when you've come to me for power? Saying you won't give up. Not only are you an idiot but you are a coward too."

Naruto flinched at the insult but didn't lift his heard. "If surviving means I have to become the monster that people think I am, then I'd rather be dead. I won't become a monster!"

Kyuubi laughed and then smirked at the boy. "Idiot! You won't become a monster unless you want to become one. When we merge, you will still have your own mind. Unless you'd rather let me take complete control. I wouldn't say no to that."

Naruto looked up at the fox. His eyes filled with confusion and a little hope. "You mean I have a choice? I can still be me?" 'What if he's trying to trick me though?'  
Kyuubi scoffed at his host. "Of course, you fool! And you better hurry up and decide to work with me on this. Otherwise it will be too late. If you haven't noticed yet, almost half of my body is missing." Naruto gasped and sat up. Again, he had to force himself to bear with the pain running through his body. He looked over the fox's body and saw that only the front half of it was fully visible. The rest of his body was nearly transparent. "What do I have to do?"

"You have to break the seal and hold on to me immediately after."

"No! You're just trying to trick me so you can get free!" Naruto glared at the fox.

Kyuubi glared right back and hissed. "You fool! Of course I want to get free because if you and I don't merge soon, I'll be sucked up into that statue they are trying to seal me in and you will be dead. You are the only one that can keep that from happening. You and I can become one and survive this. They can't take me out of you once we are one. And..." The fox grinned evilly at the boy and winked. "We will take them all out with a powerful surge of chakra when that happens. While I'm sealed, my powers are limited. Especially since a human can't handle all of my power. But once we are one, your body will be able to handle all of my power because it will be re-created." He decided not to bring up again the fact that Naruto's new body would be a demon one. He didn't want the boy to change his mind again.

Naruto was afraid to believe the fox but what choice did he have? Time was running out. 'I still have to save Sasuke, too. That idiot is planning on giving his body over to the snake bastard. I'm not even sure when that will happen either. Once I escape from here and have the full power of Kyuubi, I can go find Sasuke and save him. I will be able to kill Orochimaru, too.' Naruto narrowed his eyes at the demon. "Hey! If I agree to this, I want to leave this place and hunt down Orochimaru and kill him. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Kyuubi knew he now had the boy. He smiled in as friendly a way as a demon fox can smile. "I would love to help you kill that snake. Just one more thing before we do this, Brat. You seem to have no problem with killing the snake. Well, being a blood-thirsty demon, I do get hungry sometimes."

Naruto glared at Kyuubi. "I will not allow you to kill innocent people! The deal is off if you are thinking I would."

"Oh no, silly little boy. I can handle killing just the evil ones. If you can." He smirked at Naruto. "I promise to behave as long as you let me have some fun once in a while."

Naruto looked away. 'Evil people only. I can handle that, right? Shinobi have to kill sometimes anyway. And if I become ANBU, then I could give Kyuubi what he wants and still be helping my village. And by merging, I will be able to save Sasuke. But... I'll have to keep the merge a secret if I want to be able to stay in Konoha and if I still want to become Hokage. That will be hard. Will I be able to keep a secret like this?'

Kyuubi growled out angrily. "Hurry up and decide, idiot! More of me is disappearing and I'm getting really sick of this pain. Yes or no?"

Naruto grimaced and then looked at the fox. 'I have no choice really.' "Yes, I'll do it. But just so you understand... I'm the boss. Once we are merged, you will listen to me. Got it?"

'Ha ha. Stupid brat. As if.' Kyuubi made his expression look serious and sincere. "I got it, Brat. Now break the damn seal!"

* * *

Naruto shivered a bit as he felt a cool breeze on his body, then he slowly opened his eyes. 'Huh? Where the hell am I?' He saw blue sky and white, puffy clouds above him. 'What the hell?' Naruto tried to think of the last thing he could remember. He sat up quickly in shock, as he remembered everything that had happened, and then he looked around. He saw that he was in a clearing near a lake, that was surrounded by woods, and that he was alone. Everything seemed peaceful and quiet. All of a sudden, Naruto realized that he felt sticky all over. He looked down at his body and gasped in shock. 'I'm covered in blood and naked. Where are my clothes?' He looked around again, this time looking for the clothes he should have been wearing. 'Wait. I'm covered in blood.' He looked at his body again. 'Where did all this blood come from?' Naruto felt very confused and scared. "Kyuubi!! Why I am naked and covered in blood? What the hell did you do with my body?" He heard a laugh and looked around until he realized who it was. 

"How are you feeling, Brat? Feel good?"

"Damn it, Kyuubi! Answer my questions! What did you do?"

"You're bloody and naked because you got a new body. Geez, idiot, don't you remember me telling you that would happen? You're clothes burned off and the blood is from the body being destroyed and then re-made. There's a lake right over there. Go take a bath, Brat." 'He doesn't need to know that not all of the blood is his, though. Telling him would be too troublesome.'

Naruto glared even though he didn't have the fox in front of him to see it. He got up from the ground and started walking to the water. "How did I get out here in the middle of nowhere? Where the hell am I?"

"I have no idea where we are, Brat. I just ran until I found someplace comfortable to rest at. Now, let me get back to my nap."

Naruto stepped into the lake and waded through it until it was waist high. He started washing the blood off of him. He dunked his head under the water and scrubbed at it until he felt like he had gotten all the blood out of it. 'Weird. I can talk to the fox now without having to go visit him at his cage.' "Hey, bastard! Are you now in my head or something? Or are you still hanging around that cage."

Kyuubi growled in irritation. "I'm part of you now, Brat. Stop asking me things that you should already know. We are one now, get it? We share this body together. I'm still alive, you're still alive. But I'm no longer caged and you now have complete access to all of my power. Now, leave me alone! I had to do most of the work to save us. So I deserve a nap."

"Geez, grumpy old fox. You expect me to know everything? Go to sleep then. I'll figure out where we are on my own." 'First thing I need to do though is find some damn clothes. I can't go running around everywhere like this. Wait. New body.' Naruto looked into the water and tried to see his reflection. He wasn't able to see himself too clearly because of the wind causing ripples in the water, but he could see enough to shock him. 'Fuck! The damn fox made me look like a girl! I'm going to kill him!'

Naruto's face now looked like a face that could easily fit on a man or a woman. His cheekbones were more prominent now because his cheeks were thinner and his eyes looked more slanted. Granted, they were still blue, but they didn't look entirely human anymore. The pupils were slitted. His hair now had red streaks mixed in with the blond. And while still thick, his hair now fell in layers down to the top of his shoulders. His bangs were longer than they had been before, coming down to frame his face on each side and reaching to the middle of his cheeks, on which his whisker marks were now darker and more pronounced.

He looked too...pretty. And he was pissed. Just about pissed enough to wake the fox up again and rip into him. 'I really, really, really hate Kyuubi. That asshole did this on purpose. Why the hell would he want to make me look a girl? A big prank on the prankster? Well, when he wakes up, I'll make him change me back. There's no way in hell that I'm going to go around looking prettier than Sakura-chan.'

At the thought of his female team-mate, Naruto frowned. 'If I tell her what happened to me, what would she do? Could she keep it a secret? She's become like a sister to me and I don't want to keep something so important from her. She already knows about Kyuubi and she accepted it and stayed my friend. But this is something totally different. If what Kyuubi said was true, then when we merged, I became a demon. Well, I still feel like myself. I don't feel the urge to start maiming and killing people. So that is good news, I guess. But if the villagers, or even the elders, find out about what happened, they would either try to kill me or they would run me out of the village. Or... They could try to seal me like they did to Kyuubi.'

Naruto took a deep breath and forced himself to not think about what might happen when he got back to Konoha. Instead, he finished washing off all the blood from his body. Then he walked out of the water and headed for a patch of grass where he then sat down to rest. He tried his best not to think about all the things he had had to go through recently. He was just too mentally drained to deal with it all right now. He rested his elbows on his upraised knees and placed his hands on the sides of his head. When he felt his ears, he blinked and then started touching the tips. 'Why didn't I notice this before?' He jumped up and ran back to the lake and looked at his reflection, pushing his hair back so that he could get a good look at his ears. 'Yep, they're furry and pointed alright. Shit! How the hell does Kyuubi think I can pass myself off as a human when I've got fucking fox ears?' Naruto started swearing under his breath but then his voice became louder. "Kyuubi!! You damn fox!! I don't care if you are sleeping! Wake up and fix this!"

Kyuubi growled in anger. "What do you want now, Brat!! Didn't I tell you to leave me alone so I could sleep? Ungrateful idiot."

"Asshole! Fix me right now, damn it! Not only do I look like a fucking girl, but I have fox ears too! Do you think this is funny? Are you having a good laugh?"

"You woke me up for this? Fix it yourself, Brat! You have the same power as me. You can shape-shift with it, idiot. Geez, you're such a crybaby. Now leave me alone or I'll punish you!"

"Like this wasn't punishment enough? Fine, I don't need your help!" 'Shape-shift? Is that like a powerful type of henge?' Naruto drew on some of his new chakra and concentrated on forming a henge to make himself look like he used to look. He smirked when he saw his old face again. But when he reached up to feel his ears, he realized they still felt furry and pointed, even though they didn't look it in his reflection. 'Well, that sucks. I thought that being a demon now, I could create a more powerful henge. Guess I'll have to make sure no one touches my ears. It's strange though that my hair seems to feel like it used to. So why only the ears? Well, I don't feel like begging the bastard to show me how to fix this now. He's been acting like a bitch all morning.'

Inside, the fox smirked. 'That brat can be so amusing at times. To keep things amusing, I won't even tell him that I can read his thoughts. Let him think he has some privacy. And of course, I did mess with his shape-shifting so that the ears weren't included with it. He thinks he used a henge to change his looks, but the only henge that was performed is one that I made on the ears.' The fox chuckled to himself. 'So, he hates looking like a girl, huh? I think I'll wait to tell him what fox demons really are, some other day. I really don't feel like dealing with his hysterics right now, anyway.'

Naruto suddenly remembered that he could henge clothes on himself, so he performed a simple henge to make it look like he was wearing his old jumpsuit. Naruto sighed and felt a little depressed. 'I miss my real jumpsuit.' He decided to go looking for a village where not only could he find out where he was, but also be able to borrow some real clothes. He had no money on him and he was really hungry, too. So he needed to borrow some money in order to be able to eat. He did plan on leaving IOU's though, so technically he wouldn't really be stealing. He much preferred the word, borrowing. 'Hopefully, I'll be able to find some clothes that have orange in them. Then I need to find a ramen stand. After that, I'll go looking for Sasuke-bastard. I'll take out the snake and then drag Sasuke's sorry ass back home.'

Naruto felt happy at the thought of seeing his friend again and being able to save him this time. 'Once Sasuke is back in Konoha, everything will be like it's supposed to be. Well, as long as people don't know what I really am. I'll just live like I always have and work on my goal to become the next Hokage. So what if I'm a little different now. Okay, maybe a lot different... But that's not the point! The point is... The point is that Sasuke will be home where he belongs and I won't have to worry about him anymore.' Naruto smiled happily and started whistling until he heard a loud growl. 'Okay, this sucks. I can't even whistle? Well, whatever.' Naruto shrugged and then smiled again and ran up the nearest tall tree. He looked around to see if he could see anything other than trees. To the right of where he was, he saw a trail and started traveling through the trees, staying parallel to the trail and hoping he was heading in the direction of a village.

* * *

Sasuke grunted in annoyance and flipped over onto his back. 'I can't fucking sleep! And it's all that idiot's fault. Why do I have to think about him every night, anyway? Every time I try to force my mind to become blank, his face pops right back up into my head. With that moronic grin on it, too. I should have killed him the last time we met. But no, just like before, I couldn't. And no matter how many times I try to tell myself that I let him live because I don't want to be like **that man**, I can't fool myself into believing it. Gaining power to avenge my clan is the most important goal I have. But I just can't kill Naruto. I left him alive at the Valley of the End, because I can't kill him. I can't kill that bond.' 

Sasuke put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. 'When Naruto, and the new Team Seven, showed up at our previous location to get me, I was given yet another opportunity to kill him. But instead, I deliberately took my time, hoping he would save himself, even though I should have killed him, because he's my weakness. Of course, the idiot just stood there and would have let me kill him. Luckily for him, and for me, that guy they replaced me with, jumped in to save him. That was a surprise. It really pissed me off, too. Sure, he saved the dumbass and kept me from having to actually kill him, but it still pissed me off. Not only did they replace me with that guy on the team, but it looks like Naruto may have replaced me with him, as a best friend. How could that moron do that to me?' Sasuke then sighed in relief, as he remembered what his replacement had said to him about Naruto. 'Oh right. Naruto told him about our bond. So maybe he hasn't replaced me yet. Maybe, I still have a chance. After I kill **that man**. If I survive. Then maybe Naruto and I can rebuild our friendship. He seems to have forgiven me for what happened at the Valley of the End. I don't believe that he would still be trying to save me and talking to other people about our bond, if he hadn't forgiven me. Anyone else would have ended our friendship, but luckily for me, my best friend is a moron.'

Sasuke decided it was time to stop thinking and get some much needed sleep. He rolled over to face the wall again. He only had a few hours left before he would have to get up. If he didn't get enough sleep, he would end up taking it out on Kabuto and Orochimaru. And then he'd probably get punished for it later, by not being allowed to train with the snake sannin. He didn't want that to happen, because there still was a lot he needed to learn from him.

* * *

Naruto slurped down the last of the broth from his last bowl of ramen and then put the bowl down on the counter and grinned. He had stuffed himself with ten bowls and was now very content. He paid for his ramen with some of the money he had borrowed yesterday from a man, who luckily for Naruto, hadn't been home when he was looking around for a place to borrow clothes from. He got up from his stool and left the food stand. He had found out the day before, that he was still in Fire Country, which was a stroke of luck, since Naruto knew his way around Fire Country pretty well. Since he had been able to stay in a hotel room last night, and was able to get a good rest and now had a full belly, he was feeling very good. 'It's time to hunt for Sasuke'. Orochimaru had been staying close enough to Konoha in the past, in order to be ready to attack it once he took over Sasuke's body. Naruto felt that Orochimaru was probably still hiding out somewhere near the border. 'Still, I think I need the fox's help to find him. I know foxes are supposed to have keen senses so surely he can help me sniff out that snake bastard.' 

Naruto headed out of town and once he was far enough away to not be overheard by anyone, he decided that the fox had slept long enough. After all, the fox had been sleeping since yesterday morning. "Hey, Kyuubi! Wake up, you old bastard!" A loud growl was his answer. "I need your help to find the snake. You can sniff out a snake, can't you?"

"Damn it, can someone please tell me why I had to be stuck in the body of an idiot? I wish that bastard that had sealed me inside you was still alive right now so I could kill him!"

"Ha! He would just beat you again. Anyway, I need your help. You owe me for that prank you pulled on me yesterday."

"Listen. I'm only going to tell you this one more time. Get it through that thick skull of yours! You are a demon now. You can do what I can do. So use the powers we share to find that Orochimaru bastard yourself. Stop asking me for help all the time. Start using that little pea brain of yours instead."

Naruto glared and growled. "Stop insulting me all the time, asshole! I saved your fucking life! I let you merge with me and I put up with you making me all girly!"

Kyuubi snorted. "Get used to it."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Concentrate chakra into our eyes, ears and nose. That will enhance those senses and allow you to hunt for your prey. Also, while you are out hunting, search for the feel of that snake's chakra. You've fought with him enough to know not only his smell but also his chakra. Use all of that to find him."

"Fine. I'll do this myself then." 'I keep forgetting what I am now and that I can use my senses like a real fox can. I guess I've been afraid to fully embrace this new power. I wish I was still a human. But... That wish will never come true. I need to stop relying so much on Kyuubi and do things on my own. I don't know why I let myself become so dependent on him, when before I always depended on my own strength. I can do this.' Naruto nodded to himself and then followed Kyuubi's instructions.

Naruto jumped up into the trees and started moving farther away from the town. He concentrated chakra into his feet and found that he could fly through the forest a lot faster than he had ever done before. He did his best to keep concentrating on hunting for a particular smell and chakra signature. He headed out northwest of the town because that was a direction that he knew would take him where there were lots of areas where Orochimaru could have hideouts at. Places where not many civilians lived in.

* * *

"It's almost time, Orochimaru-sama." The medic-nin pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. He had a slight smirk on his face. The snake sannin smiled in anticipation. 

"Yes, Kabuto. In two days, I will finally have the sharingan and will be even closer to having my revenge. He still suspects nothing, correct?"

Kabuto's smirk turned into an evil grin. "He has no idea. I can't wait until he gets what he deserves." A frown then came over Kabuto's face. "His arrogance has been extremely hard to tolerate over the past few years."

Orochimaru nodded in agreement, no longer smiling himself. "Yes, you have shown great patience, Kabuto."

"As have you, Orochimaru-sama."

"Should I tell him the truth before he has completely disappeared?"

Kabuto smirked. "Oh, yes. I think he deserves that, don't you?"

Orochimaru laughed. "I do. I very much do." 'Ah, Sasuke-kun, you are even more of a fool than that fox container. To think I would actually risk my own life to give you your revenge? How foolish.' "Kabuto, I think I will train with Sasuke one last time."

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama. I will go inform him." Kabuto bowed and then turned and walked away. 'Just two more days until that bastard gets what he deserves. I don't think I have ever hated anyone as much as I hate that Uchiha brat.'

* * *

Naruto had traveled about five days, before he finally felt the familiar and disgusting chakra of Orochimaru. He had tracked the chakra to within five miles of the border, inside the Fire Country. It was a heavily wooded area, but there was one section that looked like it had been recently cleared. There were no buildings or structures visible in which the snake could be hiding, but his chakra was definitely concentrated in this one area. And the whole place reeked of snakes. 'The bastard has to be under the ground. But where the hell is the entrance? I can sense Sasuke's chakra, too. They have to be around here somewhere.' Naruto looked around again and then his gaze stopped on a large tree. He grinned. 'Found it!' 

Naruto leaped down to the ground and walked up to the tree. He could now see the door better. He had missed it before because the door was part of the tree, and no one would know it was there unless they were right up on it and could see the irregular lines in the tree. There was also a trap on it. Naruto chuckled and then disabled the trap, which would have blown off the hand of anyone that tried to open the door. He pushed at the door and that caused it to swing outward. Looking around, and using all his senses, he found that there were no more traps in the immediate vicinity, so he boldly walked through the doorway and then down the steps, that were just inside.

'Okay, this has been way too easy so far. That kind of makes me nervous. But hey! Why should I be nervous? I'm more powerful than Orochimaru now. I nearly killed him with four tails. Now I have nine and all of Kyuubi's power. I couldn't use all of it before. This should be a piece of cake!' Naruto forced himself to think positively and continued down the long winding stairway. After five minutes of still walking down, Naruto was starting to get annoyed. 'What the hell is this? It's taking forever to get to the end! This is so boring! And I'm hungry. I haven't had any ramen since I left that village and I could really go for a few bowls right now. I wonder if there is any ramen here? Okay, maybe I should run down these stairs instead of walking.'

Naruto concentrated chakra to his feet and took off at a near flying pace down the stairs. 'Hmm, this is fun!' It was fun until he ran into a door. He did see the door before he got to it, but he was flying down the stairs so fast that he couldn't stop in time to avoid the collision. 'Fuck, that hurt! What is that door made of anyway? Steel?' Naruto rubbed his forehead and used some of his chakra to take the pain away. Then he checked the door for any traps and found a couple that he was able to disable, before he turned the knob and opened the door. He walked into a hallway that looked very long from where he was standing. 'Shit. Well, need to see where the snake is before I start running down this hall.' Naruto looked for where he could feel Orochimaru's chakra the strongest. He could feel it all over the place but he was finally able to pinpoint where he felt the snake was actually at.

It seemed he wouldn't have to go all the way down to the end of the hall, after all. To his right, Naruto looked for a door but couldn't see one. Not wanting to take the long way when he felt a short-cut would be better, Naruto felt now would be a good time to go into nine-tails mode. He let himself think about what the snake bastard wanted to do to Sasuke and let that anger fuel the chakra and make it stronger. Then somehow, without him really knowing it would be so easy to do, he shape-shifted into an almost human-sized, nine-tailed fox form. The experience was nothing like what had happened to him when he was still human and trying to use the power of Kyuubi. There was no pain when he changed form and he felt in complete control of himself now. With his demon chakra covering his whole body, Naruto ran right into and through the wall in front of him. He kept running and going through every wall and obstacle that came before him. He didn't stop until he had reached Orochimaru.

Orochimaru had felt the presence of a demon before it had even entered his underground lair. He had told Kabuto to go set up traps in all the other rooms in order to confuse and delay the demon. That would give Orochimaru time to get prepared for when he met with the demon. He wanted to capture the demon, not destroy it. He figured he could find some way to use it. But he hadn't planned on the demon bulldozing it's way through all the walls, concrete walls at that. He was caught by surprise when the demon burst through one of the walls in his study and stopped right in front of him, grinning rather smugly and even evilly at him.

Even though Orochimaru had known his hideout was being invaded by a demon, he hadn't known which demon it was at the time. It hadn't been close enough to him before, in order for him to know. But now he did. And he felt surprise again, when he realized that it was Uzumaki Naruto and that he had obviously merged with Kyuubi. He knew this because of the nine tails that were waving back and forth behind the fox. He also knew this, because why else would the fox demon be here? Kyuubi wouldn't have tracked him down on his own. Not when there were hundreds of humans he could be feasting on instead. No, only Naruto would want to come here to save his friend. So a full merge was the only explanation that fit with what he was seeing. He tried to smile at Naruto. It wasn't easy, when he was faced with a really big fox. Fighting a nine-tailed fox would be so much different than fighting a four-tailed one. But since Orochimaru thought that he would only be dealing with Naruto, and he considered the boy to be a weak person, in spite of how he looked at the moment, Orochimaru didn't believe that his life was really in any danger. He felt confident that he knew how to handle the fox boy.

Orochimaru smiled and spoke in a condescending manner. "Hello, Naruto-kun. My, what a surprise. I suppose you came to get Sasuke-kun?"

"Brat, let me out! You said I could have him! Let me taste his blood and then I'll let you find that Uchiha brat!"

"Fine, but if you try to do anything more on your own, I'm taking control again." Naruto let Kyuubi have control of his body.

Orochimaru had gone cold inside after hearing Naruto's words. He hadn't heard Kyuubi's voice because the fox had talked to Naruto inside his head. But Naruto had spoken out loud. Orochimaru quickly started forming the seals that would allow him to substitute his body and transport his real body away. At the moment, getting away from the demon was all he could think about.

Kyuubi growled with pleasure at having control of the body once again. 'Now I get to feast again. I haven't had anything to eat since I was sealed, except for a few of those Akatsuki bastards that didn't get burned up during my merging with the brat. That wasn't nearly enough to make up for all the years I had to starve. There's another person hiding around here somewhere that I will get to next. The brat can just wait until I'm done, before finding his little friend.' Kyuubi knew that the man that reeked of snakes had used a jutsu to get away, while Naruto was giving control over to him. So he quickly ran right around the clone in front of him, slashing it with one of his claws as he headed for where he smelled the disgusting scent of snakes, that also had the delightful smell of fear mixed in with it.

Orochimaru had left the room and re-appeared where he expected Kabuto to be. He decided that he would use Kabuto as a distraction for Kyuubi, while he performed an immobilizing jutsu on the demon. It wouldn't hold the demon for long, but hopefully it would last long enough for Orochimaru to be able get to Sasuke and take over the boy's body. When the fox found him again, he would be safe because Naruto would never allow Kyuubi to destroy the body of his dear friend. 'I could probably even trick Naruto into believing that his precious Sasuke-kun is still alive, even after having his body taken over. Maybe I could even talk him into working for me.' Orochimaru looked around in annoyance. His fear had started to fade away as he was going over his plan. But the plan wouldn't work if he couldn't find his missing subordinate. 'Where the hell is Kabuto?' He had felt the man's chakra in this room, which is why he had transported himself here. But it seems like Kabuto was trying to avoid him.

"Got you!"

Orochimaru, who hadn't even felt the demon's chakra in the room, was surprised for the very last time in his stolen life. He didn't even have time to scream or to get away, as he felt his body being ripped apart and then there was nothing.

* * *

Sasuke awoke from a nightmare he'd been having about Naruto. In it, Kyuubi had killed Naruto and stolen his body. As he was trying to rid his mind of the horrible images from the nightmare, he felt the powerful chakra of the demon itself. 'Am I still dreaming?' He shook his head and got up from the bed. 'That's Kyuubi's chakra.' He armed himself with his katana and then headed for the door. Sasuke knew what the fox's chakra felt like, because he had been inside Naruto and come face to face with it. He had already known about the fox, even before that event. Orochimaru had told him about Naruto being it's container, not long after Sasuke had come to him for power. Sasuke had wanted to meet the demon not only because he wanted to see the thing that had caused Naruto to be hated by so many, but also because it had protected the idiot and kept him alive. For the second reason, Sasuke was very grateful to the demon. But Kyuubi wasn't the one that gave Naruto all of his power and strength. Sasuke knew that Naruto was strong all on his own. But he would never tell the moron that. 

Sasuke left his room and headed towards where he could feel the demon's chakra. He needed to see Naruto. Needed to make sure that the idiot was still alive. His nightmare before and then waking up to feel the presence of Kyuubi, had him afraid for his friend's life. Sasuke nearly jumped in fright when he heard a scream. 'Was that Kabuto? It almost sounded like him.' He started running then, heading towards where the scream had come from, which also happened to be where he felt the monstrous chakra of the fox. He stopped at the door to the medical lab, which was Kabuto's domain. Sasuke took a deep breath and forced himself to walk into the room. What he saw nearly made him want to bend over and empty his stomach of all it's contents. Forcing himself not to turn and run, Sasuke pointed his katana at the fox that was still gnawing on one of Kabuto's leg bones. "Where's Naruto?"

Naruto heard Sasuke's voice and took control over his body again, he quickly shape-shifted back into human form but didn't realize he had forgotten to make himself look like his old self, and that he didn't have any clothes on.

Kyuubi hadn't bothered to put up a fight when Naruto took control. He had had a good meal and now felt like having a long nap. "Thanks for the fun and the meal, Brat!"

Naruto chose to ignore Kyuubi. Frankly, he felt sick and just wanted to forget what had happened and get cleaned up. Naruto threw away the bone that was still in his hand and then started coughing and trying to spit out whatever was still left in his throat and mouth. He looked at over at Sasuke when he was finished. "Give me some time to clean up, Sasuke, before asking any questions. I really need to get out of this room and wash out my mouth. The taste and smell of blood is making me feel really sick."

Sasuke had felt relief when he realized that Naruto was still alive, but he had a lot of questions that he wanted answers for. He especially wanted to know why Naruto hadn't changed back to his real form. Even though he now looked more human, his eyes and ears were definitely not human. And his face was a lot thinner than it had been the last time he had seen him. And the hair. 'And why the hell is Naruto naked? Well, I'll make him tell me everything later. Right now, I want him to get cleaned up too, so I can stop feeling so nauseous myself.'  
"I'll take you to a room where you can clean up, but you're going to have to answer all my questions when you're finished. You've got a lot of explaining to do."

When he saw Naruto nod his head in agreement, he backed out of the room, not turning his back to Naruto. He wasn't sure if the fox would take control again and he wasn't going to take any chances. As soon as Naruto came out of the room, Sasuke nodded his head in the direction that he wanted the other boy to go, then he followed along behind him. He kept a tight grip on his katana in case he should have to use it. "Second door on your right." Sasuke followed Naruto into the large bathroom. There was a shower and a very large sunken tub in the room.

Naruto went over to the shower and turned on the water. He adjusted the temperature of it to suit him. He finally realized that he had lost his clothes again. But he couldn't get up the energy to really care about it. The fear of losing Sasuke to Orochimaru forever had kept Naruto hunting for the last five days and nights. He had barely gotten any rest during that time. But now that he didn't have to fear that anymore, the lack of proper rest had finally caught up to him. All he really wanted to do now was to find a bed and stay in it for as long as possible. He stepped under the water and let it rinse all the blood off of him. He spent several minutes doing that and also rinsing out his mouth, before he picked up an unused bar of soap and started washing his body and his hair. During all the time that Naruto was cleaning himself, he could feel Sasuke's eyes on him, watching him. 'That bastard won't even give me any privacy. Doesn't he realize that if I wanted him dead, he would already be dead?'

Sasuke knew he should have given Naruto his privacy, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave. He wasn't afraid anymore that Kyuubi would all of a sudden appear and attack him. But if Naruto asked him why he didn't leave, he would use that as an excuse. There was no way he would tell him the truth. Sasuke found himself fascinated with Naruto's new body. He had already realized it was really Naruto's body, when he couldn't detect any type of jutsu being used to make him look like that. His sharingan would have been able to see it. Not only that, but the boy appeared very tired and had no reason to be trying to look like something he was not. 'So, if this is what he really looks like now, then Naruto and Kyuubi must have merged. That would explain the ears and the eyes and also how Naruto was able to let the Kyuubi out and then take back control again. Naruto had used the fox's chakra and power before but he had never let the Kyuubi take over his body completely. But back to his looks...' Sasuke wondered why Naruto didn't have any tails now. 'Tails would have been cute. Hell, the ears are cute.' He really liked the way that Naruto looked now. He liked it too much though. He saw that Naruto was just about finished with his shower, so he pulled a robe off of a rack, that was near the door, and then when Naruto got out of the shower and had dried off, he handed it to him. "Put this on and then start explaining."

TBC


	2. New Goals

**Disclaimer**: I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any characters associated with the anime and manga. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All I do is play around with the characters for fun, not profit!

**Summary**: See first chapter!

**Warnings**: See first chapter!

**It Should Be Obvious**

"talk" normal talk

'talk' thoughts of the character

**that man** Sasuke's way of referring to Itachi

**Chapter Two: New Goals**

_What had happened the day after Naruto left the village..._

Tsunade looked at the young ninja standing in front of her. "I need the three of you to go find that idiot, Naruto, and bring him back to the village as soon as possible."

"So troublesome." Shikamaru frowned and then looked the Hokage in the eye. "And where do we look?" 'I sure hope this mission doesn't take too long. I was supposed to have dinner with Temari tonight and now she's going to be pissed.' The lazy ninja sighed. 'So troublesome. I hope she doesn't beat me up too bad.'

The blonde Hokage grimaced in vexation. "I really have no idea where the brat went."

Sakura looked at her mentor, stunned. "Why would he leave the village without telling anyone? It's too dangerous for him to be out there alone!"

"The brat tricked me! When I get my hands on him, I'm going to beat him till he can't walk for a week!"

Sai smiled at the very angry-looking Hokage. "I could do that for you. But I have my own way of making sure he can't walk for a week."

Tsunade, Sakura and even Shikamaru stared at the strange, dark-haired ninja. Tsunade's and Sakura's expressions were shocked, but Shikamaru's was disgusted. He disliked Sai, even though Naruto and Sakura seemed to trust him. Not only did he not trust the Sasuke look-alike, he thought the boy was a pervert. 'Always having to show off his body with those clothes he wears. He's like the male version of Ino. I wish he wasn't coming along on this mission. So troublesome.'

Tsunade cleared her throat and spoke again. "Well, that brat is supposed to be looking for Jiraiya, presumably, but I have a feeling that he's looking for Sasuke instead. I hope he's still in Fire Country and hasn't gone too far away from this village. The important thing though, is for the three of you to find him as quickly as possible and get him back to this village. We can't let the Akatsuki capture him. Even if I'm pissed at him right now, I don't want the brat to die." She paused as a feeling of fear came over her. 'He better still be alive. I can't lose another person that's precious to me.' "Shikamaru, you are the team leader. Sai's skill with creating his ink creatures, should come in handy for tracking the brat. Kakashi will be joining all of you as soon as he gets back from his current mission. He's due back later today, but I don't want you to wait for him. I need you to start your mission now. Dismissed!"

Sakura, Shikamaru and Sai left the office. Shikamaru turned to the others. "Get whatever gear and supplies you will need and meet me at the front gate in thirty minutes." Sakura and Sai nodded their heads in agreement and all three left the Hokage tower and went their own way.

* * *

_Now back to current time..._

Naruto took the robe from Sasuke and put it on. He still felt very tired, but he knew that Sasuke wouldn't let him rest until after he had told him everything. He gave a small smile to his dark-haired friend. "Can we go get something to eat first? I'll tell you everything then. You wouldn't happen to have any ramen here, would you?"

Sasuke blinked at the request, then gave an exasperated sigh. "Fine, dobe. We'll see what's in the kitchen." He turned and led the way out of the bathroom. He no longer felt that Naruto would try to attack him and he was in a hurry to get the blond fed so that he could get his answers.

Naruto followed Sasuke down the hallway. When they got to the kitchen, Naruto sat down at a table that was in the center of the room. He propped his head up with a fist and watched as Sasuke searched through the cabinets, looking for instant ramen.

"Looks like you are in luck, dobe. There are some cups here. Only pork though." Sasuke set about making Naruto his dinner.

Naruto slowly let his head fall onto the table and started to drift off in sleep. He awoke to a sharp pain in his head and jerked his head up off the table. He glared at Sasuke. "Why'd you have to hit me so hard, bastard?"

Sasuke smirked at the blond boy. "Eat your ramen, dobe."

Naruto grumbled under his breath and then dug into his ramen. After he had finished and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his robe, he sighed contentedly and then looked at Sasuke. 'I guess I should just tell him the whole truth. He did see me in demon fox form and I really don't have the energy to come up with some story.' "Well, you see... I kind of got captured by the Akatsuki."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in interest and inside he felt concern for his friend. "What happened?"

Naruto sighed and looked away in embarrassment. "Well... There was this little girl that approached me after I left this small village called Konsi. She was just a little thing and so adorable looking. Couldn't of been no more than seven or eight years old. Anyway, she told me she was lost and wanted me to help her find her mother. So I said I would. Man, Sasuke, how was I supposed to know that she was working for the Akatsuki? That bastard Kyuubi said I was too trusting."

"You were, dobe." Sasuke hated to agree with anything that Kyuubi said, but the fox was right. 'Naruto is always too trusting.'

Naruto glared at the other in anger. "Damn it, Sasuke-bastard! Not you too! I'm not going to go around and distrust everyone I meet and treat them like enemies. That's not how I am, nor how I want to be."

"Just finish your story, Naruto."

Naruto huffed. "Fine! Anyway, all I remember is that I took her hand and then the next thing I remember is that I'm locked up inside myself in front of Kyuubi's cage. There was so much pain, too. I felt like I was being ripped apart. Kyuubi told me what was happening to me...us. I couldn't think of a way to get free. I couldn't think at all, really. Then the fox came up with the idea that if we merged, that would stop the jutsu they were using to separate us and would allow me to live." Naruto sighed and looked down. "If it was just for me, then I would rather have died, Sasuke. But I couldn't die just yet, because I still had to save you from Orochimaru, and also there is protecting the village from the Akatsuki. I have no idea what they want the bijuu for, but it can't be good."

"I didn't need you to save me, idiot."

Naruto looked up at the other boy. "Yes, you did, you bastard! There was no way I was going to let that asshole have your body!"

"Dobe." Sasuke sighed. "I know that the last time we met, I told you that I was going to let Orochimaru have my body. But I was lying. I would never do something that stupid, despite what you think. I was using him."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at his friend in surprise.

"I wanted what he could teach me. But I never had any intention of following through with giving him my body. But I couldn't let him know that, right? Anything I said to you, he could have heard or found out. That's why I lied to you. After I had learned all I could, I was planning on killing him and Kabuto. It would have been a test of my new power and strength. But you had to go and ruin that, didn't you, Naruto?" Sasuke was angry now and felt like taking it out on the blond.

"Damn it, Sasuke-bastard!! How was I supposed to know? I couldn't take that chance. No matter what you think of me, I care about you, bastard." Naruto stood up from the table. He was angry that Sasuke had made him believe that he could lose his friend to Orochimaru and angry that Sasuke scorned his help.

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Sit down, Naruto. You aren't finished with your explanations. So you did merge with Kyuubi?" Sasuke already knew that Naruto had merged with the fox, but he wanted to get the conversation back on track.

Naruto was almost tempted to just leave the room, but he decided it would be better to just get all of his story out of the way. He sat back down, but wouldn't look at the dark-haired boy. "Yeah, I had to. I don't remember what happened during the merge. The pain of it wasn't much different from the pain I had already been going through. After I regained consciousness, I found myself naked and bloody, lying in the forest. I asked Kyuubi what had happened and he confirmed that we had merged. He even told me that some of the Akatsuki had died in the blast of chakra that occurred during the merge."

Sasuke gasped and looked at Naruto with apprehension. 'Itachi...' "Was...**that man** there?"

At first Naruto was puzzled about who Sasuke meant, then he remembered that his friend wanted to kill his brother. "I don't know. I could ask Kyuubi?"

Sasuke nodded his head. 'That demon better not have stolen my revenge!' "Do it."

Naruto called out in his mind for Kyuubi. "Hey, fox! Did you kill Uchiha Itachi? Sasuke will be really pissed if you did."

Kyuubi had been listening to their conversation and knew very well that the young Uchiha brat would be pissed. He almost felt like telling him that he had killed the older Uchiha, but then decided to just tell the truth. 'I kind of like the young Uchiha anyway, he's very intriguing. I don't want him to hate Naruto.' "No, I know the feel of the cursed sharingan users, and there were none of them caught in the blast. I believe Uchiha Itachi escaped right before he could be caught by it. Guess those eyes of his, could see trouble coming." Kyuubi laughed.

Naruto sighed in relief at the fox's words. "Thanks, Kyuubi!" He looked at Sasuke and said out loud, "Kyuubi says that Itachi got away before the chakra blast hit them."

Sasuke relaxed his tense muscles. "Good. No one is allowed to kill him but me."

Naruto shook his head in annoyance. "Sasuke, Itachi has made lots of enemies. There's no guarantee that you will be the one that kills him."

Sasuke's expression turned cold and deadly. "If someone else does kill him before I do, I will hunt down that person and kill them instead. It's my job to kill **that man**."

Naruto just shook his head again and then sighed. "I really need to find a place to rest now, Sasuke. I think I've explained enough to you for now. Either show me to a bed, or I'll go find one myself." He got up from the chair and looked expectantly at the other.

Sasuke stood up also, and then lead Naruto out of the kitchen and down the hall to a spare room. He opened the door and turned to look at the blond. "You can sleep here."

Naruto nodded in thanks and then went into the room. He shut the door behind him and then walked over to the bed and threw himself down on it. He went instantly to sleep.

Outside the door of the room, Sasuke stood thinking. 'Well, I had almost learned everything that Orochimaru could teach me. Tomorrow I'll look through his things, and Kabuto's, and see what else I can find that will help me get stronger. I wonder though... Should I take over Sound? Without Orochimaru or Kabuto in charge, someone needs to step up as the leader. I could use this opportunity to get stronger and more powerful. It would help in my search for **that man**. I could use Naruto, too. Having a fox demon on my side, I could make the Sound village the most powerful of all the ninja villages.' Sasuke turned from the door and walked away, heading to his own room. He'd think more on his new plans after a good night's rest.

* * *

Kakashi and the others looked through the debris of the Akatsuki hideout. They had been searching through it, looking for a certain blond ninja, for a couple hours now. All they had found so far, were the remains of several Akatsuki members. 'Or what is left of their remains. It looks like most of the bones were picked clean by animals, but enough of their heads remain to make some identification with. I'm very glad we haven't run across Naruto yet. I'd know his blond hair anywhere. But then again, it may have been better for us to find him here.' 

Sakura tried to keep herself from crying and throwing up. They had to make sure they found all the remains in order to verify whether Naruto was there or not. She was so afraid that she would run across a sign that he was there. She looked over at Kakashi, hoping he could help take her mind off of what she had to do. "What could have caused this kind of damage, Kakashi-sensei?"

"From the evidence, it looks like it was caused by shock waves from a powerful burst of chakra. Since the Akatsuki were dealing with bijuu, it could be a demon that caused this. But we'll need to have tests run on some of stones here and even from the bodies, to find out the truth. What I'm really worried about right now, is that the bijuu may have escaped their containers. They were being put in statues and there is nothing that is undamaged here."

Shikamaru, Sai and Sakura gulped in fear and looked around.

Kakashi saw the fear in the eyes of the young ninja and sighed. 'I shouldn't have said that.' "Well, don't worry about it! If they had escaped, they would have no bodies and we've been here for a couple hours now and nothing has happened. Let's just continue our search."

The others nodded at the copy ninja but still were a little disturbed. A few minutes later, Pakkun popped up in front of Kakashi. "The scent of Naruto was here, Kakashi. But like I mentioned before, it changed a bit and was mixed up with another scent. I was able to track the scent to a nearby lake. Then it went off to a village, a couple miles from the lake. I think we should all leave here and follow this scent, Kakashi. It is Naruto, but it isn't."

"What do you mean it is and it isn't? What's going on, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked over to the pink-haired medic nin. "Well, I wasn't sure if it was Naruto, but I had Pakkun go follow this strange scent, just in case." Kakashi sighed. 'I guess I'm going to have to tell them what I fear happened.' "It is possible that Naruto and Kyuubi merged and that Naruto survived." He then had to pause to let the others settle down after they had started asking questions at the same time. "Now, now. Let me finish. If they did merge, then we could be dealing with Kyuubi himself. I hate to think that our "number one at surprising people" ninja would let the fox win but we have to take that into consideration." Kakashi looked down at Pakkun again. "I need you to follow the scent yourself to where it ends. Then come and get me. Don't approach the demon or whoever it is. Now go." Pakkun grumbled but then headed out.

"I think we need to go back to Konoha and report our findings to the Hokage. It could be too dangerous for the four of us to handle and we need to see how the Hokage wants to deal with this."

"But, Kakashi-sensei! Naruto could be out there hurt somewhere! You don't know for sure if he merged with the demon. We can't just abandon him like this!"

"Sakura, we are not going to abandon him. But it would be foolish to continue our search without proper backup and we need someone that can do seals for demons, too. Just in case. Now, no more arguing. Let's go."

Sakura looked at Shikamaru and then Sai. But both of the young men just shrugged at her and turned to follow Kakashi. 'Naruto... You better be still alive. And you better wait for us!' She ran after the others to catch up.

TBC

Sorry this chapter was shorter than the first one but this is where I wanted it to stop. Will try to get the next chapter up soon. :) Also, I edited the first chapter to take out unnecessary things and added something to it. You don't really have to re-read it, unless you want to.


	3. Sasuke's New Title

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any characters associated with the anime and manga. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All I do is play around with the characters for fun, not profit!

**Summary: **See first chapter!

**Warnings:** See first chapter!

**It Should Be Obvious**

"talk" normal talk

'talk' thoughts of the character

**that man** Sasuke's way of referring to Itachi

**Chapter Three: Sasuke's New Title**

The following morning, Naruto woke up and forced himself out of bed. He noticed that Sasuke had left some clothes on the dresser for him, so he put them on. 'Geez, Sasuke. Couldn't you have found me another shirt?' The shirt, that Sasuke had left for him, was white and overly large and had the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. Since Naruto had learned how to shape-shift, when he had changed into a demon fox form the night before, he now knew how to shift his form in order to make himself look exactly like how he had looked before the merge. So he looked into the mirror, that was over the dresser, and shape-shifted, then he left the room and headed in the direction of the kitchen. When he got there, he found a few cups of ramen that Sasuke had left out for him on the table and smiled at his friend's thoughtfulness. After he had prepared his meal and ate it, he went to search for the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke was already up and training. He had cleaned up the mess that Naruto, in demon fox mode, had left. It had taken a while to get all the remains and blood cleaned up and he hadn't felt like eating after that, so he had decided to train instead. He looked over at Naruto when the blond entered the room.

"Good morning, Sasuke!"

Sasuke grunted. "Hn."

"Didn't get enough sleep last night? I slept like a baby myself. So...wanna spar?" Naruto grinned at his friend.

"We need to talk, dobe."

"Oh." Naruto walked over to the other and sat down beside him.

Sasuke sat down himself and then looked at the other boy. "I've been thinking and I've decided that I will take over as Otokage in Orochimaru's place."

Naruto looked at Sasuke in shock. "What? You're supposed to come back with me to Konoha! You don't belong here, Sasuke. You can get stronger in Konoha, I'll help you."

Sasuke shook his head. "No, Naruto. I would be locked up and who knows how long it would take before I'd be allowed to start training again. I don't need that kind of setback. There are many scrolls here that I can read and learn from and if I am the Otokage, I can become more powerful and have more resources to track **that man** with."

"But Sasuke, you would be an enemy to Konoha then."

"No, I don't wish to fight Konoha or any other village. I could make a treaty with Konoha. I think they would like to have peace between our two villages. They are after Akatsuki themselves and our two villages could work together on that, as long as they know not to kill **that man**."

Naruto looked down in thought. 'I don't want Sasuke to be locked up and he really wants to avenge his clan. Who am I to stand in his way? I'm his best friend, I should support him.' Naruto looked back up and into Sasuke's dark eyes. "I want to help you. But I don't want to get in trouble with Tsunade or the elders. Well...anymore trouble than I'm already in."

"I want your help, Naruto. You do realize that being a demon, you will have problems if you go back to Konoha? The villagers hate Kyuubi and I doubt they would welcome you now, even if the Hokage does."

Naruto nodded. "I know that. But it's my home, Sasuke. I want to protect the village and everyone in it. And I still want to be Hokage. Not for recognition, but to change things...rules that have caused trouble and pain for others." 'Like Neji for one.'

Sasuke looked away for a moment and then looked back into Naruto's eyes. "It will be hard for you to become Hokage, but I won't try to dissuade you from it. For now though, can you work for me? With your help, I think I can make Sound a powerful influence among the other villages. Once I have my revenge against **that man**, then you can work on your goal to be Hokage. Will you think about it?"

'Sasuke really wants my help! This is the first time he's ever asked me to help him and it would be wrong to turn him down. But...' "I will have to talk with Tsunade baa-chan first, Sasuke. I would prefer to have her approval. I want to help you and I will. But first I need to go back to Konoha."

Sasuke sighed. 'I guess I have no choice.' "Alright, dobe. But don't take too long to get back to me. In the meantime, I'll work on gathering up all the Sound ninja and make my claim as Otokage. I'll leave a map for you, hidden in the tree that is the entrance to this lair. It will lead you to the Sound village." Sasuke gave Naruto a stern look. "And come alone. I don't want any other Leaf ninja to know where the village is, for now."

Naruto smiled. "Fine, bastard. I'll come alone." 'I'm sure I can talk Tsunade baa-chan into this.' He grimaced with imagined pain then. 'After she beats me up for tricking her and leaving the village, that is.' Naruto got up, then turned to look at Sasuke, who had also stood up. "Well, I'm going to go ahead and leave now. I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

It took Naruto only a day to arrive back in Konoha. Since he had known what direction to go in, after leaving the Sound hideout, he had been able to travel at a speed that no human could ever achieve. He hid his chakra signature when he was a couple miles from Konoha, and then when he got to the village he used a transportation jutsu to get himself into the Hokage tower, without being detected. Naruto saw Shizune and told her he needed to see the Hokage.

Shizune was shocked to see Naruto just walk up. Everyone had been worried about the blond and here he was, walking in nonchalantly. "Naruto! Where have you been? Tsunade-sama has been worried sick!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and blushed in remorse. "Um, I'm sorry, Shizune. That's what I need to talk to Tsunade baa-chan about."

Shizune ushered Naruto to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door. She called out, "Hokage-sama, I have something important to show you!" She knew the Hokage was in a meeting with Kakashi and his team and she didn't want to barge into the room without permission. Even though Tsunade was going to be pissed when she saw Naruto, she didn't want the woman to take it out on her, too. When she heard the Hokage yell for her to enter, she opened the door and shoved Naruto in ahead of herself. "Look at what I found!"

Everyone in the room turned to look and froze in surprise. A few seconds later, the Hokage jumped up from her chair and ran over to the blond boy and hugged him. She ignored his squirming to get loose. After a minute or two, she finally let him go and then hit him on the head so hard that he fell down.

Naruto grabbed his head and looked up at the woman. "Ow! That hurt!"

Tsunade took a deep breath and then yelled, "Where the hell have you been?"

Sakura ran to Naruto after she finally realized he was really there and safe. She hit him on the head, too, and then hugged him tightly. "Naruto, you idiot! We were all worried about you!"

"Ah, Sakura-chan. Can you let go of me now? It's hard to breathe."

The girl released him but stayed close by.

Sai and Shikamaru were both happy to see that Naruto was alive. Sai stood smiling at the blond, but Shikamaru was frowning. He was annoyed that Naruto showed up looking perfectly fine, after they all had been so worried about him. "So troublesome."

Naruto looked at the Hokage. "I think I should talk to Tsunade baa-chan alone, first."

The Hokage nodded. "Alright, the rest of you leave us alone." She looked at Kakashi. "I'll send for you later."

Kakashi nodded. 'Naruto looks normal, but he's suppressing his chakra signature so it's hard to tell if anything happened to him. Pakkun hasn't reported back to me yet. I need to contact him.' Kakashi ushered the others out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Tsunade looked at Naruto and glared. "You, idiot! You better tell me everything that happened after you left and don't leave anything out. I'm still thinking of a good punishment for the trick you pulled on me and for leaving this village alone." She walked over to her chair and sat down.

* * *

_Later that day..._

Kakashi knocked on the Hokage's door and then entered the room when he heard her call out. He closed the door behind him and walked up to her desk. "So, what did Naruto have to say for himself?"

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared out the window for a moment, then she sighed and turned back to face the copy nin. "Kakashi, what I have to tell you can't leave this room." She performed a jutsu that would make the room sound-proof. "Naruto and Kyuubi have merged into one. But they are two separate souls that share the same body. I performed a medical checkup on him, but even though his body is now that of a demon's, I could tell that he is in perfect health. And mentally, he is still our brat." 'Perfect health but with a surprise inside of him. I couldn't even bring myself to tell the brat. Oh well.'

"That's good to hear. About him still being our brat, that is." He clarified. "Well, Pakkun followed the scent, which we now know was Naruto's, to a place near our border with Rice Country and he found Orochimaru's most recent hideout. But he could tell that there wasn't anyone there anymore. He told me that Sasuke had left the place not long before he got there, and Naruto had left a little earlier than that. Pakkun decided to check the place out. He said there had been a couple of very recent deaths there."

Tsunade frowned. "Orochimaru and Kabuto."

"Pakkun said that he smelled both Naruto's and Sasuke's scent in the areas where the deaths had occurred. Do you know which one of them did it?"

"It was Kyuubi. Naruto allowed Kyuubi to take over his body and kill them."

Kakashi looked surprised. "Why would he do that? He can control Kyuubi?"

"He says he can. But it disturbs me that he allowed Kyuubi control and that he talks to him."

"What about Sasuke? Why didn't Naruto bring him back?"

Tsunade shook her head. "It's not only that he wouldn't bring him back, he wants to go join him and help him with his revenge. I told him I'd think about it."

"Naruto wants to leave the village to be with Sasuke?"

"Yes, but just long enough to help the Uchiha brat get his revenge. If I don't agree to it, I know he'll just leave anyway. But I don't know what to tell the elders. How am I going to explain all this to them? They will want Naruto locked up or sealed. I love the brat, but I'm afraid that he may not be able to control Kyuubi. There is no telling what that demon's plans are."

Kakashi nodded. "But, Naruto is very strong and the fact that he survived the complete merging, and has control of his body, is a testament to that. I had been hoping that Yamato and I could have weaned him from using Kyuubi's chakra and stopped a full merge from happening. I hate to say this, but I think that Naruto's training under Jiraiya-sama did him more harm than good. He was trained on how to use and control the demon's chakra."

"I should have forced Naruto to stay in this village and train under you, instead of allowing him to go off for a couple of years with Jiraiya. But he wanted to go with Jiraiya and I really didn't think at that time, that it would be harmful for him to learn how to use Kyuubi's chakra. I trusted that Jiraiya would know what to do with the brat." She paused and then sighed. "But it is Kyuubi that has kept that brat alive. His merging with the fox is also what saved his life and for that I am grateful. I don't like that he's going to have trouble with the village because of it, but I am glad he's alive."

"So am I, Hokage-sama. If you allow Naruto to leave in order to go help Sasuke, I would like to go, too. I failed them both as a teacher and I'd like to make up for that."

"Kakashi, you didn't fail them. It's just that they both have had tragic pasts and needed special attention. It's the whole village's fault that things have come to this. Well, not just the village, but also the fault of all the Hokages, too. The boys were left to raise themselves, it shouldn't have been that way."

"I agree, so may I go with Naruto?"

"Naruto said that only he can go for now. Sasuke told him that. But, you can tell Naruto that you also want to help when Sasuke gives his permission."

"So, you will let him go then?"

"Like I said before, if I don't give him my permission, the brat will just sneak out like he did before. I just want him to spend a little time here before I tell him. He should spend some more time with his friends, before leaving for who knows how long."

"Have you found out what happened with the sealed bijuu that were in the Akatsuki headquarters?"

Tsunade shook her head and frowned. "No, I haven't been able to find out what happened to them. I asked Naruto about it and he said that he didn't know. He then asked Kyuubi about it and that bastard said he didn't know what happened to the bijuu either. But Kyuubi could be lying. I've sent out a message to all the other Kages and let them know to keep a look out for any information about the bijuu and to pass any info back to me. We'll just have to wait and see."

"Alright, well, if we're done here, I'd like to go find Naruto and talk with him."

Tsunade nodded to the silver-haired jounin. "Of course, I hope you can talk some sense into him."

"I'll do my best." Kakashi left the room via his transportation jutsu.

* * *

_A few days after Naruto arrived back in Konoha..._

Sasuke looked around at all the ninja that were sitting in front of him. These were now his men, since they had decided to accept him as their new Otokage. Only one person had opposed him and that person was now dead. Sasuke had had to fight the man who had challenged him for the position, and the fight had been to the death. For Sasuke, it had been an easy kill, even though he really only wanted to kill one particular person. But he had an image to uphold, and now that they all had seen his strength, no one would question his authority anymore. 'Naruto better get here soon. I need him so that I can approach the leaders of the other villages and show them that Sound is a powerful village again.' Orochimaru, while in search of immortality, had neglected the village and let it go to ruin. 'They will see that there is a new man in charge and when they see that I have a demon on my side, they will be more inclined to accept my treaty offers. With the alliances that I will make with the other villages, I will be able to hunt down **that man's** location, more easily. It will be hard for him to even find a rock to hide under. And after I've found him and had my revenge, I think I will just rebuild my clan here.'

Mokaki, one of more powerful and experienced of the Sound ninja, cleared his throat to get Sasuke's attention. "Otokage-sama, what would you have us do now?"

Sasuke looked at the red-haired older man and answered. "We need to get this village in order, it's in need of lots of repairs and I would also like all of you to start moving your families in here again. I will set you as the one in charge of gathering a group of men, experienced in carpentry and building homes, to start repairing the buildings and houses here. Rebuilding the Otokage's tower will be your first priority though. I will move in there when it's finished."

"Yes, Otokage-sama. I'll start on it right away."

"Good, you're all dismissed then." Sasuke got up and left the men to their work. He headed to his temporary office, which though small, was still in good shape. He had to start writing the treaties that he would need to send to the Kages of the other hidden villages.

* * *

Naruto looked over at Iruka, trying to figure out why his former sensei kept blushing every time that Kakashi giggled. The silver-haired jounin was reading one of his Icha Icha books and would giggle out loud every once in a while. Naruto had noticed that Iruka would look at Kakashi whenever that happened, and then blush. It didn't make any sense to the blond. "Um, Iruka-sensei?"

The chunin looked over at Naruto. He noticed that the boy had finally finished all his ramen. "Oh, finished already? Are you ready to leave?"

"Um, well...yeah, thanks for paying for this meal, Iruka-sensei. I don't know if the Sound village will have a ramen stand like Ichiraku's, so this may have to hold me for a while."

"I really wish you would stay here, Naruto-kun." He quickly kept talking when he saw that the blond was about to argue with him. "It's not that I'm worried that you will get into trouble or hurt, it's just that...you will be putting off your own goals in order to help Sasuke-kun with his and I'm not sure if you will be happy in Sound. All of your friends are here and we will all miss you. You've haven't been back that long since your trip with Jiraiya-sama and we haven't been able to spend much time together."

"I know, Iruka-sensei. But this is important to me. I told Sasuke that I would help him and I'm going to keep my word. This is the first time that he's ever asked me to help him like this. I do care about you and everyone else here, but I have to do this. It's not like I'll be gone forever, you know."

"I know this is important to you, Naruto. It's just that...well... I'll miss you."

"Maybe you can come to visit later, Iruka-sensei. You could come with Kakashi-sensei, after I get Sasuke to agree to it." Naruto stared at the chunin in confusion, wondering why he had blushed again. 'What's going on?' "Are you okay, Iruka-sensei?"

"What? Yes, I'm fine. Well, as soon as Sasuke-kun says we can visit, send me a message."

Kakashi put down his book and smiled at the brown-haired ninja. "I'd be happy to escort you there, Iruka-sensei. You know, maybe we can get together sometime to trade stories about Naruto and Sasuke?"

"Huh?" Naruto stared at Kakashi, then glared at him. "What kind of stories are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" 'He better not make fun of me behind my back!'

Kakashi grinned at the blond. "Oh...you know. Just...stories. Nothing to be embarrassed about." 'This will give me a good excuse to spend more time with the cute Iruka. I can tell he's interested in me and I'd love to see just how much.'

Naruto stood up from the his seat and then smiled at Iruka. "Well, I think it's time to head out now."

"Did you say goodbye to all your friends yet?" Iruka pulled out his wallet and then placed the money, that would pay for his and Naruto's ramen, down on the counter.

"Yep! I've visited everyone in the past couple of days and let them know what I was doing." 'I feel guilty that I haven't told any of them, not even Iruka or Sakura, about what really happened to me. But Tsunade baa-chan said that it would be better to wait for a while. She still has to let the elders know and get them to agree to let me live in the village.'

Iruka smiled at Naruto and then grabbed him and hugged him. "Take care of yourself then, Naruto. Don't forget to write and let me know when I can come visit."

"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei. I won't forget."

Before Iruka could let go of Naruto, Kakashi thought it would be fun to have a group hug, so he wrapped his arms around the two younger ninja. "Ah, this is nice."

Both Naruto and Iruka were stunned, but then Iruka managed to let go of Naruto and pull himself out of Kakashi's arms. He laughed nervously. "Okay, well... I'll guess I'll see you soon, Naruto-kun."

"Yep! See ya!" Naruto waved and then left the ramen stand.

"Your place or mine, Iruka-sensei?"

"What?" Iruka looked with shock at the older ninja. 'Is he hitting on me?'

"To trade stories about Naruto and Sasuke, of course. We should get to know each other better since we both care about those two boys. Don't you think?" He had to fight to keep himself from laughing at the expression on the other man's face. 'He's just so cute when he blushes!'

"Um, I guess. But can we meet later today instead? I have to get back to the academy and finish grading some papers."

"Of course. How about we just meet for dinner then? It would be more convenient that way. Any particular restaurant you prefer?"

Iruka blushed again and had to stop himself from stuttering. "Um, the Barbeque at seven?"

Kakashi grinned. "It's a date!"

Iruka looked at him startled, then he smiled and nodded his head. 'It would be nice if it really was a date.' "See you then, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka turned and left the ramen stand.

Kakashi watched the chunin walk away, until he could no longer see him. 'I think he likes me.' He smiled at the waitress who was staring at him. 'Sorry, Ayame, but I think I'm taken.' "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

The waitress nodded, then sighed when he disappeared in a swirl of smoke and leaves. 'What a man.'

TBC


	4. More than a friend?

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any characters associated with the anime and manga. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All I do is play around with the characters for fun, not profit!

**Summary: **See first chapter!

**Warnings:** See first chapter!

**It Should Be Obvious**

"talk" normal talk

'talk' thoughts of the character

**bold **for emphasis

**Chapter Four: More than a friend?**

Naruto walked through the Sound Village, seeing all the signs of rebuilding and the amazing sight of children playing in the streets. 'This seems like any ordinary village. The people look happy, too. Maybe it was a good idea for Sasuke to take over as Otokage.' Naruto stopped as two small boys nearly barreled into him. He put his hands out to catch them. "You better watch where you're going or you might get hurt." He let go and grinned down at them.

The two boys looked up at him and frowned. One of them spoke to the ninja. "You're a Leaf ninja, aren't you? You're not here to fight, are you?"

The other boy clenched his small fists and glared at Naruto.

Naruto laughed at how fiercely the two small boys were looking at him, and re-adjusted his hitai-ate. He was glad that Tsunade had given him a new one to use, since his other one had been destroyed at the Akatsuki hideout. She had also been generous enough to give him money to buy a couple of new jumpsuits. "Don't worry, guys. I'm a friend of your Otokage. Do you know where he is?"

Both boys looked at him suspiciously, but they figured the Otokage could easily handle this brightly-colored Leaf ninja. The one that had spoken before, pointed behind him. "At the end of this street. His office is in the Kyangi Weapons Shop. The sign is still hanging above the door."

The other young boy spoke up. "Why would our Otokage be friends with you? You look weak."

Naruto frowned but then forced a smile on his face. "Thanks for the directions! See ya!" He left the boys standing there and grumbled under his breath about rude little brats.

"You're one to talk, Brat."

"Shut your trap, Kyuubi! I do not look weak! I'm the most powerful ninja of the Hidden Leaf village!"

People, on the street, stopped what they were during and stared at the strange blond ninja, who was shouting out loud as he was walked down the street.

"You're so modest, too."

Naruto decided to ignore Kyuubi and continued walking until he had reached the weapons' store. There were two Sound chunin guarding the door. "Hey, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. Can you tell your Otokage that I'm here to see him? He's expecting me."

The men looked at the Leaf ninja who didn't appear to be dangerous. One of them nodded to the other and that one opened the door and went inside the shop. The one that stayed behind kept his eye on Naruto the entire time that his partner was gone.

Naruto just ignored the man and passed the time by looking around at the village. He turned back to look at the door when the chunin that had left, came back and gestured for Naruto to enter the shop.

"He's in the office behind the counter. Just go right in."

Naruto nodded at the man and walked in. The shop was practically barren because of looters, but it looked clean. He walked over to the door that was behind the counter and opened it, then stepped into the room. After he had closed the door behind him, he looked around for his friend.

"Over here, Naruto."

Naruto turned to his left and saw Sasuke sitting behind a large desk, that had lots of scrolls on it. The dark-haired teen was currently writing on one of the scrolls and not looking at him. Naruto walked over to him and sat down in a chair that was facing the desk. "Looks like you're hard at work, Sasuke."

"Hn."

"Oh, Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei say hi and both would love to come here and help you with getting this village back in shape. Iruka-sensei, too."

Sasuke looked up at the blond. "They would just get in the way, dobe. There are plenty of people here to get things in order."

"Sakura-chan is a great medical ninja now and she could help out with the hospital here. Iruka-sensei could help with the school." Naruto paused, trying to think of what Kakashi could do. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei could help with the training of the genin."

"Naruto, I'm not ready for any of them to come here yet. As I said, there are plenty of people here that can do the work. As for you, I need you to attend all the meetings that I will have with the representatives from the other villages. I'm almost finished with the final drafts of the treaties I'm going to have sent to the other Kages." Sasuke finally noticed what Naruto was wearing. "Dobe, take off that hitai-ate. You are working for me now." Sasuke opened up one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a Sound hitai-ate and placed it on the desk before the blond. "Wear this one instead."

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "I'm not going to wear a Sound hitai-ate, bastard. I'm a Leaf ninja. I said I would help you and I will, but there are certain things I won't do. I still plan on becoming the next Hokage, you know."

Sasuke did his best to keep his temper in check. He wasn't in the mood to fight with Naruto over this. "It's only temporary, Naruto. There's no need to get upset about this. I want you to represent Sound, for now."

Naruto shook his head. "No, Sasuke. I'm not going to back down on this. Besides, don't you think it would look better for the other villages to see that you had a Konoha representative backing you? Tsunade baa-chan told me that I could act as her representative. Well, I still have to report to her and get her permission on anything big. But she made this a mission for me, so that the elders couldn't say I had defected from the village."

Sasuke sighed and put away the Sound hitai-ate. "Fine, dobe. We'll do it your way for now. But when we have the meetings, you will let me do all the talking."

Naruto frowned but nodded his head in agreement. "Alright, but stop calling me a dobe, bastard. It's getting old."

"When you stop calling me a bastard, then I'll stop calling you a dobe."

* * *

_Two weeks later..._

Naruto got out of the shower and then grabbed a towel and dried himself off. He wrapped another towel around his waist and threw the wet one on the floor. He walked over to the mirror and stared at himself in it. He had shape-shifted back to his new human-demon hybrid form, before he had showered. Recently, Naruto had started to find his new look, fascinating. So now whenever he was alone, he would shift into it. He had also started adding nine tails to the form. "I wonder why the tails don't show up naturally?"

Kyuubi chuckled. "Well, they will when you go into your second demon shape. There are actually three natural shapes for us fox demons. One is the form you had right after our merge. It is mostly human-looking. The only things different are the ears and eyes and longer canines. Then there is the second one that is similar to what you look like now with the tails, but also you would have much longer canines and claws, and your hair would be fully red. The third form for us, is the shape of a fox. In that one, you can be any size you want, from small like the non-demon foxes, to larger than the largest building here."

"Wow! I think I will go out in the forest today and try out the different sizes for a fox."

"Good idea, Brat. Especially if you let me do some hunting."

Naruto gulped. "Well, not for humans, Kyuubi."

Kyuubi sighed. "You're no fun! But if you insist, then I'll stick to something you can stomach."

Naruto took off his towel and then shape-shifted back into his old Naruto form. He put on his boxers and jumpsuit and then left the bathroom and headed into his bedroom. Sasuke had given Naruto a really nice suite in the newly rebuilt Otokage tower. Naruto had, at first, been sleeping on a futon in Sasuke's old office. Sasuke had wanted to keep Naruto close for some strange reason that the blond couldn't figure out. Now Naruto was staying in a suite that was right next door to Sasuke's. Naruto stopped, just inside his bedroom, and stared at the dark-haired man, who was sitting in a chair next to his bed. "What are you doing here?"

"So, you are planning to play in the forest? Well, you can forget that. We have a meeting this morning with the representative of the Sand village. He arrived last night."

Naruto sighed in disappointment. 'Sorry, Kyuubi. Maybe we'll have some free time later today or tomorrow.'

Kyuubi growled in annoyance. "I'll just take a nap then. Wake me up when I can play."

'I will.' "Is the representative someone I know?"

"I have no idea, Naruto. Go eat the breakfast that was left in your kitchen and then meet me in my office. The meeting starts in an hour." Sasuke got up from his chair and headed to the door. "And remember, I do all the talking."

"Fine, bas...um, Sasuke. I'll be there."

* * *

Sasuke sat behind his desk, watching and listening, as Naruto stood talking with the Sand representative, Kankurou. The meeting had been over for almost an hour and he should have made them leave his office. But instead he had become interested in their conversation and especially interested in watching Naruto. Over the past couple of weeks, Sasuke had found himself thinking about his friend a lot and wanting to spend his free time with him. He knew he had missed the idiot, but he hadn't realized just how much, until he had the blond close by again. Naruto reminded him of happier times and his presence lifted the burden, of thinking constantly about revenge, off of his shoulders. Sasuke felt more calm and relaxed now. He had at first attributed this to the loss of the influence of the curse seal. But he realized that after Naruto showed up in the Sound village, he had been feeling even better than he had felt when he was alone here. It had been a long time since Sasuke had felt so at peace with himself.

Naruto stopped talking to Kankurou and looked over at Sasuke. 'Why has he been staring at me? Sasuke sure has been acting very weird lately.' "What do you want, Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinked in confusion for a moment. 'Now is not the time to be daydreaming. It's all Naruto's fault that I can't keep my mind on my work.' He glared at the blond. "Can the two of you go somewhere else to chat? I have work to do and I'd like some peace and quiet."

Naruto glared right back. "Fine. Me and the puppet man are going to the ramen stand." He then looked at Kankurou. "They have a great ramen stand here, but it's not as good as Ichiraku's in Konoha. Come on, it'll be my treat!"

Kankurou looked over at Sasuke and nodded to him. "I'll be heading back to Sand after lunch."

Sasuke nodded in return. "Good. I appreciate that you won't be wasting anymore time here than necessary."

Kankurou glared at Sasuke and mumbled under his breath. "Still a brat." He looked at Naruto. "Thanks for the offer, Uzumaki."

"Sure, puppet man! See ya later, Sasuke-bas...um, Sasuke." 'Damn, it's hard to keep from calling him a bastard!' Naruto opened the door and lead the way out of the office.

Sasuke glared at the door after it had been slammed shut by the blond. 'I am not jealous. So what if he seems to like spending time with that strange Sand nin, more than with me. It's not like I care. I'm not that fond of ramen anyway.' Sasuke opened a blank scroll and set to work on writing a message to the Hokage. He had decided to allow Sakura, Kakashi and Iruka to come help out. Naruto had kept nagging him about it everyday until he finally broke and agreed to let them come.

* * *

_Later that day..._

Naruto was in the woods and currently in his fox form, the size being the same as a normal, non-demon fox. He was running around and chasing butterflies, just enjoying the freedom and the beautiful day. He had decided to wait awhile before waking Kyuubi up from his nap. He didn't want the old demon to take up all the time with hunting. Naruto came across a small stream and decided to get a drink, then he sat back on his haunches and relaxed. 'That bastard has been messing with my head too much. Why do I keep finding him looking at me all the time and why has he been hanging around me so much? I admit that I do like it when he spends time with me, but it's just so strange. He never acted like he wanted to hang out with me before, unless it was for sparring. He doesn't say much either, he just listens to me and stares. It makes me feel weird. I asked Kankurou if he noticed Sasuke staring at me and that asshole had the nerve to say that Sasuke must have a crush on me. Yeah, right! There's no way that bastard likes me like that. I mean, we're both guys. Guys don't like other guys **that way**.'

Kyuubi laughed. "How naïve, Brat. You really have no clue about relationships, do you?"

"Kyuubi! What are you doing awake? Wait, what? What do you mean I'm naïve? I know some things about relationships."

"Not everything, obviously. There are men that like men in a romantic way, Brat. It's not all that rare. Those two teachers of yours seem to like each other that way."

"What are you talking about, bastard? Which teachers?" Naruto didn't know any men that were like that. 'Wait a second!' "Kyuubi, can you read my private thoughts? I wasn't talking to you at the beginning."

"You finally figured it out. I've been wondering when that pea-sized brain of yours would notice. Anyway, I was talking about Kakashi and Iruka."

'What the fuck? Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei?' "Okay, one thing at a time here! First, why can't I read your private thoughts, if you can read mine?"

"Simple. I'm an intelligent and very ancient demon. I know how to do things that you don't. You are an idiot, so it takes you a lot longer to figure things out. Like about your two teachers."

"You bastard! And what makes you think that Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei like each other **that way**?"

"Because, stupid, even you noticed that Iruka was blushing over Kakashi the whole time they were around each other. And Kakashi was hitting on Iruka."

"No way! Iruka-sensei's too good for that pervert! I'll kill Kakashi-sensei if he hurts him!" 'Okay, Iruka-sensei was acting weird...but that doesn't mean he likes Kakashi-sensei!'

"Of course it means he likes him. You used to blush around that pink-haired girl and she would do the same around that Uchiha brat. It's obvious that your teachers like each other. Get a clue, Brat."

"Well, I'll just ask them when they get here. We'll see if you're right or not."

"Of course, I'm right. I'm always right, Brat. Just like I'm right about that Uchiha liking you. And you like him."

"No fucking way! I do not like him like that! He's just my friend. And he's too full of himself to like anyone else anyway!"

"Sure, live in denial. I don't care. It's time for me to take over the body now, Brat."

"I do not like Sasuke that way! Hmmph! Fine, you can have control for an hour or two, but don't get into any mischief or hurt any humans, okay?"

"I already said that I wouldn't harm your humans, Brat." Kyuubi then took control of the body and shifted to a larger size so that he could take down larger prey.

* * *

_That evening..._

Naruto stared across the table at the other boy. Sasuke looked away when their eyes met and focused on his meal instead.

"Um, Sasuke... I've been wanting to ask you something."

"What is it, dobe?"

"Hey! I've been avoiding calling you a bastard, you could at least stop with the insult!"

Sasuke looked up at the blond and smirked. "What did you want to ask, Naruto?"

"Why do you keep staring at me all the time?"

Sasuke's smirk turned into a frown and he glared. "I do not."

Naruto glared back. "Yes, you do! It's been freaking me out!"

Sasuke continued to glare for a moment and then looked back at his meal. "I don't know."

"Huh? You don't know?"

"I haven't been around many people since I left the village. Mostly only Orochimaru and Kabuto, and I avoided them unless I needed something from them." Sasuke looked back up at the blond. "It's strange being around you again. Especially now that you've changed so much. A lot of things have happened to you in the past few years, and I didn't really think about it before. I used to be jealous of you, you know?"

"I was jealous of you too, Sasuke. You were always so strong...and cool. But then you went and did something stupid!"

"You know why I did it, Naruto! I needed to get stronger." He kept talking before Naruto could interrupt. "But, a lot of how I acted before, was because of the curse seal. I know that now. I hadn't realized before that it had been feeding my hate and fear, making those emotions stronger within me. Even the jealousy that I felt towards you was being amplified by it. But now I can think more clearly. I do still want to avenge my clan. But now I can plan for it better, and one day soon, I hope, I will be strong enough to achieve it."

Naruto was happy that Sasuke had opened up to him and also that he had freed Sasuke from the effects of the curse seal, but... "I'm glad you're no longer being influenced by that snake's curse seal, Sasuke. But...what does that have to do with you staring at me all the time?"

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do!"

"Hn. ...I guess I'm just more interested in you now. I want to learn more about you. I want our friendship to become stronger."

"I feel the same way, Sasuke." 'Ha, Kyuubi! You were wrong. He just wants us to be better friends.'

"Dream on, Brat. Do friends stare at each other all the time? I think not."

'Well, that's true.' Naruto looked at Sasuke in puzzlement. "Sasuke, that still doesn't explain the staring."

Sasuke got up from the table. "I have some more work to do, Naruto. I'll see you in the morning for the meeting with the Mist representative."

"Huh? You're just going to leave like that? We weren't finished talking!" Naruto growled in frustration as Sasuke left his suite.

"See, Brat? He likes you. He's either too afraid to tell you or he doesn't want to admit it to himself."

"No, Kyuubi. There is no way that Sasuke would ever like **me** like that. I'm just lucky he still wants to be my friend."

"Oh ho! So you admit you would like something more with him!"

"What? I didn't say that!"

"In a round about way you did, Brat."

"You are such a bastard, Kyuubi!"

"And you are such an idiot." Kyuubi laughed. "Fine. Stay in denial. Just like that Uchiha brat."

"Just. Shut. Up. And go to sleep!"

"Fine by me."

Naruto got up from the table and left the dishes for the maid to clean up in the morning. A couple of nice benefits, that Naruto enjoyed by living in the Otokage's tower, was that he didn't have to clean up after himself and he didn't have to cook. He would still try not to make too much of a mess, but he had always been a bit of a slob. He went to his room and laid down on his bed, fully clothed. 'Damn, Kyuubi. He's got me thinking that Sasuke may like me. That's stupid! There's no way that bastard could like me except as a friend.' Naruto couldn't stop himself from wondering what it would be like, to have someone that cared about him as more than a friend.

TBC


	5. Growing closer

**Disclaimer: **I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any characters associated with the anime and manga. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. All I do is play around with the characters for fun, not profit!

**Summary: **See first chapter!

**Warnings:** See first chapter!

**It Should Be Obvious**

"talk" normal talk

'talk' thoughts of the character

**Chapter Five: Growing closer **

Naruto watched as Sakura, again, tried to get Sasuke's attention. He kind of felt sorry for her, because it was obvious that she was still in love with the dark-haired avenger. But Sasuke, apparently, still found her annoying. In the past, Naruto would yell at Sasuke whenever he treated Sakura this way, but now... Naruto found himself feeling happy that Sasuke still didn't like Sakura in the way she wanted him to. He couldn't understand though, why this would make him happy.

"Sasuke-kun, you really do need to take a break. You've been working so hard. It would be nice if we all could have a quiet, relaxing dinner together."

"Sakura is right, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi grinned at his ex-student and then looked over at Iruka. "Don't you agree, Iruka-sensei?"

The brunette nodded his head. "Yes, it would be nice."

Naruto couldn't help but glare at the masked man. 'Damn it! Kyuubi was right! Kakashi-sensei has been flirting with Iruka-sensei ever since they got here.'

"Of course I was right, Brat. I told you, I'm always right." The fox chuckled in amusement.

'I wasn't talking to you, bastard!' Naruto looked at Iruka and saw him blushing and trying to hold back a smile. 'Oh no! Iruka-sensei likes him too!' He ignored the snort he heard from the fox and then looked at Sasuke to see what he would say.

Sasuke was frowning at Kakashi, but then he got up from his desk and walked towards his door, saying behind him. "Fine. I'm not going to get anymore work finished today anyway, because of all of you bothering me."

The others followed the young man out of the room. Naruto took his time though, because he wasn't really happy about having to eat with all of the others, too. He didn't feel like watching Kakashi flirting with Iruka all night. because it freaked him out. But he had to admit to himself that the real reason was that he only wanted to have dinner with Sasuke, alone. Ever since the others had arrived in the village, a week ago, he and Sasuke hadn't had many opportunities to have dinner by themselves. It was either Sakura eating together with them, or it would be Iruka wanting to eat with Naruto alone, or all of them would end up eating together.

After they all got to the restaurant, Naruto sat quietly and just ate, while Sakura and Iruka did most of the talking. He didn't understand why he was feeling jealous about sharing Sasuke with the others, but he couldn't help it.

Sasuke tuned out most of what Sakura and Iruka were saying. Most of their conversations were about the ninja academy or the hospital anyway. He couldn't help but look at Naruto every once in a while. He wondered why the blond was being so quiet. He'd noticed that Naruto was acting differently ever since the others had arrived in the village. 'I thought the dobe wanted them here. He wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to let them come. What the hell is wrong with him?' Sasuke had to direct his attention to Iruka when he realized the chunin had asked him a question. "Sorry, can you repeat that?"

Iruka smiled at the dark-haired boy. "How are things going with the treaty alliances you are trying to make?"

"Everything is going well so far. The Sand, Cloud and Mist villages have already agreed to an alliance. The elders of the Leaf village, though, are asking for a couple of conditions that I don't wish to grant them."

"Really?" Kakashi sat forward and looked at the young Otokage carefully. "Do you mind telling us what those conditions are?"

"Yes, I do mind." Sasuke looked back down to his plate and started eating again. He was hoping that Kakashi would mind his own business. But he knew his former teacher too well.

"Aww, Sasuke-kuunn. That's no way to be to your former teachers and friends. You aren't afraid to tell us, are you?" Kakashi smirked under his mask and waited to see the boy's reaction.

Sasuke glared at the silver-haired man and then looked over at Naruto. He saw the interest in the boy's blue eyes and sighed inside. 'I wish I had not given in to the dobe.' He looked back at Kakashi. "That is a lame attempt to try and get information out of me, Kakashi. It doesn't matter what those conditions are, because I have no intention on meeting them." 'I'm not going back to Konoha and I'm definitely not reviving the clan there.' Sasuke pushed away his plate and then put some money on the table. He stood up and then looked at Naruto. "I wish to talk to you later, Naruto." He then looked at the others after Naruto had nodded to him. "I need to get back to my office. Feel free to stay here as long as you like." He had left more than enough cash to pay for all of their meals and even dessert.

They all watched as Sasuke left the restaurant and then looked at each other. Iruka was the first to speak. "He is taking his job as Otokage very seriously. Even though he left our village to gain power from Orochimaru, he's turned out to be a good leader."

Sakura smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, he has." She looked over at Naruto and frowned. "Naruto, are you feeling alright? You haven't been acting like yourself lately. Maybe you should come by the hospital tomorrow for a checkup."

Naruto looked up at his pink-haired friend and forced himself to smile. "I'm fine, Sakura-chan! You don't need to worry about me."

Iruka put his hand on the blond's shoulder squeezed it lightly. "You know we can't help but worry about you when you get all quiet. It's not what we're used to, when we're around you. Do you want to talk?"

Naruto did want to talk to Iruka, but first he needed to go talk to Sasuke since his friend had requested it. "Maybe later, Iruka-sensei." He got up from the table. "First I need to talk to Sasuke. If you aren't busy later, maybe I'll stop by your room." All of them had suites in the Otokage tower. Sasuke had had it built to accommodate several guests, just in case it was needed.

Kakashi leaned towards Iruka and put his arm around him. "Ah, Naruto. You might want to wait until tomorrow. Your Iruka-sensei and I have plans for the night."

Iruka shrugged off the other man's arm and glared at him. "If Naruto needs to talk to me, he can." He looked at the blond. "You can come by later tonight, if you want."

Naruto had to force himself not to glare at Kakashi. He smiled at Iruka instead. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei! I will!" He then smirked at the annoyed looking masked ninja and waved goodbye.

Iruka turned to glare at Kakashi after Naruto had left. "Naruto needs to talk to me and you should care more about the problems of your ex-students."

Kakashi gave Iruka a pout, even though it was hard to see under the mask. "Awww, Iruka-chan. I just wanted to spend the rest of the evening with you."

Sakura already knew that Kakashi and Iruka were dating, it wasn't hard not to notice their new relationship after the journey to the Sound village and their behavior the past week. She still didn't understand why Iruka liked her perverted ex-teacher, but she no longer found their relationship too disturbing. She knew when she was the odd man out, so she decided to leave the two love-birds alone. "Well, I need to go study some medical scrolls so I'll see you both tomorrow. Have a good night." She left quickly without waiting for their goodbyes.

Kakashi put his arm around Iruka's shoulder again and pulled him closer. "How nice. We're finally alone."

Iruka blushed. He really liked the other ninja, but sometimes the man embarrassed him out in public. He pushed the arm off his shoulder again. "Please, Kakashi-sensei, not in public."

Kakashi pouted again. "But Iruka-chan, I don't get to be alone with you enough. Let's go back to my room."

Iruka blushed again and looked away. 'Why did I have to fall for a pervert?'

* * *

"What's wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto looked at the dark-haired boy who sat waiting for his answer. He didn't know what to tell Sasuke. 'What is wrong? How can I tell him I miss sharing dinners with just the two of us? That I wish that Sakura, Iruka, and especially Kakashi, had stayed back in Konoha.'

"Just tell him the truth, Brat. I thought you were supposed to be a brave ninja. Ha! Coward!"

"Shut the hell up!!" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and grinned at his friend in embarrassment, when he realized he had shouted out loud. "Uh, sorry, Sasuke. I wasn't talking to you."

Sasuke continued to glare anyway. "Is it Kyuubi that is causing you to act different? If there is some kind of problem going on with you or it, you better tell me."

"It? It! Let me out, Brat and I'll teach him not to insult me!"

'I said, shut the hell up, Kyuubi! I don't need you making things more difficult. Just go to sleep or something.'

"Naruto, answer me." Sasuke was getting very impatient with the blond.

Kyuubi growled in anger but decided not to speak anymore. 'That stupid Uchiha brat. I was going to try and get him and Naruto together, but now I don't think I want the brat around him anymore. I'll find the brat a more respectful mate instead.'

"Kyuubi was just saying something that pissed me off, Sasuke. Don't worry about him."

"Should I be worried about you then? You've been way too quiet lately. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me!"

"Dobe. I thought friends were supposed to tell each other the truth. Stop lying to me."

Naruto sighed. "I guess it's because we don't spend much time together anymore."

Sasuke looked at the blond in surprise. He knew that he had missed the private time they spent together, but he hadn't realized that Naruto had also missed it, too. "Is that really why you've been quiet?"

Naruto nodded. "I know it was my idea to invite the others here, but I didn't realize it would mean that we wouldn't get to spend much time alone together anymore." He looked away from the other boy. 'I feel like I'm being selfish, wanting to keep Sasuke's attention always on me. Why do I want that so much?'

"Naruto, we can try to do things together more often. The others don't always have to be around, you know. I thought you wanted them to be, that is why I've gone along with it. It's not that I want their company."

Naruto smiled at his friend. "Great! Then can we have lunch, just the two of us, tomorrow? I've been wanting to show you a new jutsu I created." Even though Naruto had Kyuubi's power now, he still wanted to be able to create his own jutsu's. It made him feel independent from the other demon. Like he was an ordinary ninja.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile back. Even though it was a small smile. "Sure. I just have an early morning meeting with my ANBU teams, but after that I'm free." 'I guess for one day, I can take a break to make the dobe happy. It's too strange when he's not acting like himself. Also, maybe I can avoid Sakura and Kakashi all day tomorrow. Sakura still doesn't get that I'll never fall in love with her. She may have gotten stronger and better at being a ninja, but she still has that ridiculous crush on me. And Kakashi just annoys the hell out of me. He finds it entertaining.'

* * *

Naruto sat on Iruka's couch, enjoying a cup of hot cocoa that his father figure had given to him. He smiled at the man. After his talk with Sasuke, he was feeling good and it showed on his face.

"I was worried about you, Naruto. But you seem to be feeling much better."

"I'm sorry that I was acting strange to you, Iruka-sensei. I just had a lot on my mind."

"Want to talk about it?"

Naruto put his cup down and turned to face the man. "Iruka-sensei, is there something going on between you and Kakashi-sensei?"

Iruka blinked in surprise. "Um, well...yes there is, Naruto." 'I guess it would be wrong to lie to him.' "We are sort of...dating."

"Dating! But isn't that supposed to be done between a man and woman? And why would you want to date that pervert?"

Iruka frowned. "Well, he is a pervert sometimes. But I still like him anyway." He then looked seriously into Naruto's eyes. "There is nothing wrong with men dating men, Naruto. You may not have seen it before, but it does happen. Love is not something you can just decide to feel for whoever you choose, it just happens."

'So it isn't wrong for men to like, or even love, other men in the same way that men and women do. That means if I like another man that way, it would be okay.' "Um, Iruka-sensei...just be careful with that pervert, Kakashi-sensei, okay? I want you to be happy. If he gives you any problems, just come to me."

Iruka smiled at the blond. He was happy that Naruto felt protective of him. "Sure. I'll let you know if I have any problems with that pervert." Then Iruka couldn't help but laugh.

Naruto laughed with him. "You know how to punish him, don't you?"

Iruka stopped laughing and thought for a moment. 'Oh!' He nodded at the boy. "Yes, I know about his love for those books." 'The whole village knows! I'd burn those books if I wasn't afraid it would kill Kakashi.'

Naruto grinned. "Yep! Well, I got to go, Iruka-sensei. Thanks for the cocoa and for being honest with me about you and Kakashi-sensei." Naruto got up from the couch.

Iruka stood up also and then reached out and hugged the boy. "You're welcome. I hope you know that you can always come to me when you need to talk. Don't keep it inside."

'As soon as I can understand what I'm feeling, then I will tell you. But right now, I'm not ready.' Naruto hugged back and then let him go. "I know and thanks again!" He smiled as he walked to the door. 'I guess it is good that Iruka-sensei is here. It was wrong of me to wish he wasn't.'

* * *

_Six months later..._

Sasuke re-read the scroll that had been handed to him by one of his ANBU captains. 'I can't believe it! It can't be this easy, can it?' He looked up to the captain. "Find Naruto and send him to me. You're dismissed."

"Yes, Otokage-sama." The man then disappeared.

Sasuke put down the scroll and then sat back in his chair. 'Soon, one of my goals will be completed.'

Naruto appeared in front of Sasuke's desk, having used a transportation jutsu instead of the door. He saw that his friend had a strange look in his eyes. "What happened, Sasuke?"

"I found him, Naruto."

It didn't take the blond but an instant to figure out who his friend meant. "Where?"

"It's better if I tell you on the way. Be ready to leave in two hours. We'll be traveling light, so don't pack too much, just a couple changes of clothes."

"Where do we meet up?"

"At our place near the lake."

For months now, the two of them had met at a lake that was just outside the village. They would meet there for lunch every day and no one else ever used their spot. They had grown closer as friends. But both of them actually felt more than friendship for the other. Yet, they had never spoken to each other about their real feelings. Each one thought that the other only felt friendship, and neither wanted to say or do anything that could destroy their relationship.

"Okay, Sasuke. I'll meet you there." Naruto left the room the same way he had entered it.

Sasuke opened one of the drawers in his desk and pulled out a sealed scroll. It was addressed to Kakashi and would instantly be sent to the man, in the event of Sasuke's death. Sasuke believed that he would be able to defeat his brother and survive, especially since he knew that Naruto had the power to heal him and bring him back from death, if needed. Naruto had found out from Kyuubi that there were demon jutsu's that he could use to accomplish this, and had shared that information with Sasuke. But just in case something went wrong, he wanted Kakashi to take care of some things for him. Even though Naruto would survive, he knew that his friend would be too upset to do those things for him.'I really can't believe that this time has finally come. And Naruto will be by my side.' Sasuke got up from his desk after putting the sealed scroll on top of it. No one else would be able to open the scroll, only Kakashi, so he wasn't worried about leaving it out in the open. 'Time to tell my ANBU captains that I'm leaving.'

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke had been traveling for a few hours, neither of them talking. Both were too caught up in their own thoughts. They were headed towards a small village, called Careyo, in Lightning Country. That is where one of his allies, the Cloud ninja, had said that Itachi, and two other former Akatsuki members, were recently spotted. Deidara had been the one that had fought with Gaara and captured him. So Naruto knew what kind of skills that man had. The other, called Tobi, was supposedly the weakest of the Akatsuki and so neither of them were that concerned about him. Naruto would be taking care of Deidara and Tobi, so that Sasuke could concentrate totally on Itachi. Naruto was planning on killing them himself without the help of Kyuubi. One reason being that neither he nor Sasuke wanted to see the bloodthirsty demon ripping people apart and eating them. The other reason was that neither of them trusted that Kyuubi would stick with just going after Deidara and Tobi. Needless to say, Kyuubi wasn't very happy about it. They still had two days of travel ahead of them though. Naruto could have made it in under a day, but he had to stay at Sasuke's pace instead. They didn't want Sasuke to be too tired either, when he had to face off against his brother.

At sunset, they both stopped and decided to make camp in a small clearing that they had come across. There was a small stream nearby that they could use for water and to catch fish from. After they had set up camp and eaten, they both settled down on their blankets near the fire. Naruto laid down on his stomach and propped his head up on a fist. Sasuke sat on his blanket and just stared into the fire.

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure you are really ready for this?"

Sasuke looked over at his friend. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. It's time to get this over with."

"And then what will you do after?" Naruto had asked Sasuke this once before in the past. The dark-haired avenger had said that he would probably die when he killed Itachi. But Naruto wasn't planning on letting his friend die.

Sasuke sighed and looked back at the fire. "I plan on rebuilding my clan."

Naruto knew that Sasuke had said that was one of his goals when they were twelve year-old genin, but back then it hadn't bothered him. Right now, it bothered Naruto a lot, because he didn't want to share Sasuke with anyone. And he didn't want to be alone. "So, you'll be going back to Konoha?"

"No. I'm going to stay in Sound and rebuild the clan there."

Naruto raised himself up in alarm. "What? You can't do that, Sasuke! What about my goal to be Hokage?"

Sasuke looked at the other in surprise. "What about it? What does that have to do with me staying in Sound?"

"Everything, you bastard! I've stayed with you all this time and I'm going to help you with your revenge! You're supposed to come back with me and help me become Hokage!"

"I never said I would help you become Hokage, dobe. My being there is not going to help anyway."

Naruto looked away from the other boy. "But, I want you to be there. I don't want to be there if you aren't." 'I really sound pathetic! But I don't want to be Hokage without Sasuke being there.'

Sasuke sighed. 'I should have known he would still want me to go back with him. But I have my other goal to consider. And I don't want to rebuild the clan there.' "Naruto, I want to have a fresh start for my clan. Konoha has too many bad memories for me. It's where my clan died and I don't want to rebuild it there. I wish you could understand."

Naruto knew he was being selfish. But he couldn't help it. Sasuke was the most important person to him and he didn't want to be separated from him again. He knew he loved his friend in a way that normal friends didn't. It had taken him awhile to figure out what his feelings for Sasuke really were. He felt that his life would have no meaning if it didn't include the other boy. Becoming Hokage came second to his friend.

When Naruto didn't say anything and kept looking away with a sad expression on his face, Sasuke found himself wanting to comfort his friend. If he hadn't made the promise to himself and to his parents, that he would rebuild his clan, then he would say to hell with his obligations and just do what he and Naruto wanted. He actually didn't like the idea of marrying some woman that he didn't love and having children with her. He knew there was no one that he wanted to be close to or to let close to him, except for Naruto. He had known for a while that he was attracted to his friend and he wanted, so badly, to show Naruto just how much he meant to him. But it was impossible. He owed it to his clan...his parents, to have children and to not let the Uchiha blood die out. His brother had made it so that Sasuke's life wasn't his own to live. His brother would pay for that though.

Kyuubi had been reading the thoughts of Naruto and listening to his conversation with the Uchiha. He had gotten over his anger towards the dark-haired boy, after watching the relationship between the two boys grow closer. So now he was tolerant, once again, of the possibility of the two becoming mates. 'I should tell Naruto the truth about himself now. But it would be better to wait until after that Uchiha brat has his revenge. I don't know if it will be good news or bad news for the brat. I can't believe how much being around humans has mellowed me. I used to be such a bad ass demon. Now look at me!! Playing matchmaker. I'm making myself sick. Well, it's my body too, now. So I'll be sharing in the rewards as well.' Kyuubi laughed to himself. 'It's the only reason I've allowed the brat to keep control. Well, one of the reasons. He is entertaining. I've had lots of fun messing with him and there is more fun to come. If the Uchiha brat turns out to be a good mate, then I might let the brat keep him.' Kyuubi decided to take a nap, since both boys had stopped talking and it wasn't time to let the brat in on the secret yet, anyway.

TBC


End file.
